GREEN BAILEY
Green Bailey was one of the many singers who briefly emerged during the hillbilly recording boom of the late 1920s. Very little is known about his life, and nearly everything we know comes from the handful of recordings he made during the Johnson City Sessions for Columbia in 1929. Recording both under his own name and the pseudonym Dick Bell, Bailey accompanied himself on guitar and performed a repertoire rooted in traditional ballads and topical songs. Although his recording career was brief, his performances remain valuable examples of the vocal-and-guitar style that flourished during the formative years of commercial country music.
SHUT UP IN COAL CREEK MINE
(Issued as Dick Bell)
Recorded August 29, 1929 – Richmond, Indiana
Matrix 15534 - Challenge 425
Like many Appalachian mining ballads, "Shut Up In Coal Creek Mine" was inspired by one of the tragic disasters that struck the coalfields of eastern Tennessee. The song is generally associated with the 1902 Fraterville mine explosion, in which 216 miners lost their lives. Sung from the perspective of miners trapped underground, it combines vivid descriptions of the disaster with a strong message of Christian faith and resignation. Green Bailey's recording is one of the earliest commercial versions of the song and helped preserve a ballad that continued to circulate in the old-time tradition for decades.
